I am roller skiing on Skigo XC Classic Carbon. I use Skiskett speed reducers on the front wheels as I ski on flat terrain.When I do diagonal stride I set the speed reducers to the limit at which the wheels stop to turn and slide against the ground.Although I try have them always turn there may be some instances where they slide. After a few trainings the wheels have lost their round shape and are slightly squared. I am not sure if it is because of the occasional sliding or too high a pressure from the speed reducers that permanently deform the wheels. This happens with both #2 and #3 wheels from Skigo. Once they are sufficiently squared, the vibration numbs my feet and I cannot use them anymore.

I am wondering if someone has encountered the same problem and if there is a way to prevent it from happenning or to correct if it happens.Maybe there are some wheels models which are not affected by this problem ?

Magnus Johansson wrote:Hello! Your problem seems very odd. Are the roller skis too fast for you with #3 if the wheels roll freely? Have you tried #4?

Hello Magnus,

Yes I find the rollerskis much too fast with Skigo #3 wheels without speed reducers. I only have access to flat terrain and I want to do diagonal stride. Once a week I do VO2 max intensity training with the speed reducers set at the limit of rolling. This is because otherwise I find the skis too fast and I have difficulty with directional control at the desired training intensity. With this setting it really feels like I am going up a hill that demands diagonal stride.

I think your suggestion of slower wheels would help. I was not aware though that Skigo had #4 wheels.I started investigating if I can install slower wheels from other manufacturers on the Skigo rollerskis and apparently Elpex wheels #4 are very slow and have a good grip in wet weather.

Neuro wrote:How about reducers on the back wheels as well to increase the resistance without locking?

Also curious why you set it like that?

Hello Neuro,

I though about that idea too ! This would help for double poling as both wheels would touch the ground at all times. However, I don't use high resistance when double poling. The phase where the front wheel slides on the ground is the start of the recovery from the kick in diagonal stride. At that moment, there is not much weight on the front wheel and thus it glides. What should work is an ABS like cars have ! I will try Magnus' suggestion with slower wheels. Perhaps the speed reducers will be set at a much lower resistance and still achieve the desired speed reduction. I will post the results when I try it.

See the answer to Magnus to know how I set the reducers at a very high resistance.

Neuro wrote:How about reducers on the back wheels as well to increase the resistance without locking?

Also curious why you set it like that?

Hello Neuro,

I though about that idea too ! This would help for double poling as both wheels would touch the ground at all times. However, I don't use high resistance when double poling. The phase where the front wheel slides on the ground is the start of the recovery from the kick in diagonal stride. At that moment, there is not much weight on the front wheel and thus it glides. What should work is an ABS like cars have ! I will try Magnus' suggestion with slower wheels. Perhaps the speed reducers will be set at a much lower resistance and still achieve the desired speed reduction. I will post the results when I try it.

See the answer to Magnus to know how I set the reducers at a very high resistance.

Thank You,JF

Hello Neuro,

My previous post was incomplete. I continued to think about the speed reducers on both the front and aft wheels.My analysis did not included the fact that the ski not being kicked would have both wheels on the ground and would be able to provide additional resistance through the aft wheel, thus reducing the need for very high resistance on the front wheel alone. Therefore I think now that this idea is likely to be successful. I will try it.

It results in significant additional resistance when gliding on the glide leg.Roberto at Skirollo (the speed reducer brand at the back of the rollerski) confirmed to me that setting too much resistance will have the wheel stop its rotation and skid.I noticed it when low pressure is applied to the front wheel for example at the beggining of kick recovery in diagonal stride and kick-double-pole.Once the wheel skids it wears a little. The next time the speed reducer encounters the worn section it may stop the wheel rotation for a short period of time during which the wheel skids again and wears a little more. This phenomenon repeats itself increasingly squaring out the wheel each time.With 2 speed reducers per ski I can set each speed reducer at a lower resistance than I was setting the single speed reducer before. The wheels don't skid and I get mre resistance than before.